Review of Strange Invaders

Entomology professor from New York traveling to a rural town in Illinois to find his missing wife, unaware that aliens disguised as humans took over the community back in 1958--in a deal with the US government. Apparently, director Michael Laughlin, who also co-wrote the screenplay with William Condon (from a treatment by Laughlin, Condon and Walter Halsey Davis), wanted his film to be nothing more ambitious than a retread of those dopey-sinister monster movies of 30 years prior (you could call this Laughlin's valentine to the drive-in sci-fi). It's a low-budget, sometimes-campy/sometimes-gross entry about alien invaders and their unsuspecting human targets, but Laughlin is merely imitating the genre without transcending it--and all we're left with is the formula. It's a ticklish concept, especially for film buffs; however, once it becomes apparent that the picture isn't going to stretch beyond its own cartoonish borders, interest begins to fade. Clueless leading man Paul LeMat (looking like an overgrown adolescent) doesn't appear to be in on the joke anyway--a bewilderment most audiences will likely share. ** from ****